BUILD A LASER-CUT HORSE-DRAWN VAN

I’m looking for some easy-to-build horse and cart kits for my Edwardian-era layout, especially covered delivery carts. What’s available in ‘OO’? Jim Henry, by e-mail

Peter says: There are numerous ready-to-plant horse-drawn vehicles in ‘HO/OO’, from the likes of Noch, covering a range of vehicle types, from hearses to flat carts. Langley Models (www. langleymodels.co.uk) offer some lovely whitemetal kits of all manner of horse-drawn vehicles that simply require gluing together and painting. Suitable horses are also supplied to match the vehicles. For example, you can get immaculately groomed light horses for a funeral hearse or a pair of Shires for a heavy brewer’s dray cart. An easier building option lies in a new range of laser-cut horse-drawn vehicles from Arch Laser, retailed via Osborn’s Models of Bideford. Along with a traditional gypsy caravan, there’s also a small one-horse van that can be painted to represent all sorts of delivery vehicles, from a mail carrier to a fresh bread and provisions merchant. Rendered in micro plywood – which is a strong material – the parts need cutting from the fret with a fresh blade and tidying up a little with abrasives before gluing together. Illustrated instructions are supplied and the kit goes together very well, providing an enjoyable project. The instructions recommend using a fast-setting glue and I agree, as a regular formula of Pva-type wood glue would take far too long to dry. The delicate nature of some of the parts makes them difficult to clamp together while the glue sets, so either cyano-type ‘superglues’ could be employed, or Busch’s special glue for laser-cut kits is another option. The kit took about an hour to assemble and I was pleased with the completed model, which made for a nice addition to a vintage station forecourt. No horse or driver is supplied, but suitable animals can be obtained from Langley or Dart Castings (www. dartcastings.co.uk), with harnesses cut from strips of paper or cotton thread.